Grand Wazoo

Actually now I am also fancying one of those Vintage modified ones with the big Gibson EB-0 type of pickup in the neck position... But I want to go and try one first before I make up my mind.

The tuners on my brand new Fender CIJ 51 Reissue bass are as stiff as a stiff thing, so much so that it bloody hurts to turn them, and a string change it is a very painful operation. These are the reverse tuners type for the record. On Friday night I got fed up with them and took them apart, completely dismantled every one of them, cleaned them and lubricated the bushes with top grade Singer sewing machine oil (thanks to the missus) this gear is better than WD-40 and it's supposed to penetrate and coat moving parts better than any other oil. When I reassembled them, before fitting them to the bass they felt a lot smoother but sadly once back on the headstock and with the string in tension they become once again stiff and very hard to turn. What can I do to make them better, short of junking them for a set of modern style smooth Fender or other brand? Any idea welcome Thanks

I saw this at the 2008 Music Live show in Manchester and this is the youtube link you are refferring to I guess?

I loved them soooo much I've bought all 3 of them But here a quick review of all 3: Before I start let me explain that I have replaced the pickups in all 3 of these basses with Seymour Duncan vintage replica ones, because I didn't like the sound of the Squier p/ups, some people however are getting by with the orignal ones nonetheless, still I am convinced that changing them makes for a definite improvement. (also the pots and wiring were changed with original CST Fender made and cloth covered high quality wirings) All 3 are fitted with these very good Fender High Mass bridges, note that the 50's Pre has steel saddles, the Jazz has brass saddles, and... the strange thing is that if you buy the 60's Precision in Sonic Blue, you will get steel saddles and an ashtray cover on the bridge, but if you get the newer Fiesta Red, you'll have brass sadlles like in the Jazz but no ashtray cover on the bridge, go figure! ?? [b]The Jazz (was) Olympic White, but I Mooo'ed it. :[/b] In the past 30 years I've owned an original 70's Jazz and a Squier JV Series 82 Jazz, I've sold the 70's to get something else can't remember what, and the Squier got nicked. 19 years and countless basses later I've had the urge to get another Jazz and this CV one fitted the bill, both in playability and quality of manufacture. The neck is perfect, the rosewood used for the fretboard is flawless and these necks fit so nice in their pocket to put the Mexican Fender to shame. The jazz unplugged is the most resonant and loud out of the 3, I have no idea why, it just is, and when you plug it in, that factor alone makes this bass the loudest and brightest out of the 3 with incredible sustain. To quote Nigel Tuffnel: "You can go for a bite and you'd still be hearing that one..." [b]The 50's Precision Lake Placid Blue:[/b] The most sound captivating out of the 3 in terms of warmth and period correct "vibe", it still gives me goose bumps everytime I play it. It has this gorgeous fat chunky one piece neck in a lovely maple wood, to note this is the only model out of the 3 that Squier has left the maple natural whereas the other 2 are covered in a tinted lacquer to give them an aged look, it's a matter of personal taste of course but this pale slab of maple to me it's gorgeous to look at. Despite the chunky neck they are a breeze to play. What can I say this is point and shoot bass, one pickup, volume and tone and nothing that can go wrong with that setup, just get out there, shout HELL YEAH and play the heck out of it. This bass won't let you down. [b]The 60's Precision Fiesta Red:[/b] A true love affair... this is the King of the Mid's register, from a definite punk clanky "Clash" type sound through to blazing overdriven - pick played rock tunes this bass cannot be left out of a good gig. Nice body to neck weight ratio, this sucker won't dive on you, and every note you play, rewards you with superb definition. Very comfortable to play the neck is obvioulsy wider than the Jazz but it retains the same thickness, while the 50's is as wide as the 60's this is a lot less deep and might favour those with smaller hands and fast players who like to play big jumps from top fret to lower ones. I believe this bass is different from the other 2 but at the same time, I just can't make my mind which I love the most, and it's all a personal opinion, frankly I couldn't do without any of them and if I was really pushed to put them in order of preference it would be a very difficult choice but... I can just about say that my top favourite is the 50's Blue, closely followed by the 60's Red and in 3rd but closer place is the Jazz.

SUB's were original American made Stingrays [b]BUT[/b] made out of poplar body, unbranded bridges / tuners, covered and in a not so expensive textured paint job, with black painted maple necks obviously to cover the not so pretty maple woods used, they had some sort of anodized metal pickguard. The pickups were supposed to be in-house made but of lesser quality of unknown magnets (alnico or ceramic?) Nevertheless despite the cost cutting excercise from EBMM these were built to top notch quality, proving that they could make quality instrument at low cost, eventually these basses / guitars were built by them at a loss because their profit margin never ended breaking even and as a result they stopped making them. The quality of these is so good that after they have been discountinued, they have become highly sought after and for some EBMM fans they are considered as collector items. I've heard of some lucky basteed that managed to get one of these in a Cash Converter for little money but if you see them on ebay those in the know are willing to pay up to £700-£800 for them. They used to be available in 4 / 5 strings active or passive and even a pau ferro fingerboard fretless. All together they made a StingRay 4 based model, a Sterling 4 one and later even a Stingray based 5 strings with the tear drop pickguard and half moon control plate mounted on the body. Here below are the full specs as they appeared on their website: [url="http://www.music-man.com/specs/instruments_sub.html"]http://www.music-man.com/specs/instruments_sub.html[/url]

The piezo in an Ernie Ball bass is a great addition, as you can see in that video it opens a whole new spectrum of sounds previously unavailable to a normal electric bass, not only that but when used together with the eq it allows you to cut through the muddiest of band mix and adds definition & attack to your sound. Also you will find that with a piezo, you tend to change strings less because if you like a bright sound this will enhance 50% of brightness to an otherwise dull set of strings way past their average life. I'd jump on it, if I were you.

[size=4][b]yes it's true!! it's true, it's true!!! they are great![/b][/size]

[quote name='Waterboarder' post='829555' date='May 6 2010, 01:10 PM']Hi, I love this bass, but after putting on some heavier gauge strings, there is more tension on the neck so the truss rod needs a tweak. Shouldn't normally be a problem, except that the hole by the nut where the allen bolt sits is very deep, so deep that you cant even see down into it to check what size allen key you need. Even if I did, it'd need the long end of the allen key so I doubt you could get enough leverage to turn it. The wood doesn't seem to have been cleaned up too well when the hole was drilled either so its tricky to feel what size key fits. Bugger. I wondered if anyone's done this adjustment on these basses? If so, what size key is needed and what is the best way to tackle it? Cheers[/quote] If you've bought this bass new (as I have the same one) it comes with an angled hex wrench which reaches the end of the bolt comfortably and all you need is a 1/4 turn to adjust the neck curvature to requirements. Go easy and don't over turn it. Also remember if you increased gauge you've also increased mass hence the saddles will have a thicker string each and needs to be slightly lowered to ensure the ideal action. Your local music shop should have the correct hex key if you don't have it. I don't know the size of it, sorry.

[quote name='hagguy' post='828900' date='May 5 2010, 08:13 PM']just tried the toothpaste trick, slightley unsuccessful, left it with a nice shine but the scratches are still there although they are less noticable i've repeated the process 3 times, i'll give it another shot the get t-cut in.[/quote] Sorry to hear that, usually this method helps remove pick scratches and minor lacquer blemishes, it is evident the scratches you have are deeper than the clear coat of varnish.

[quote name='danny-79' post='827811' date='May 4 2010, 07:56 PM']Been looking at the "Markbass Compressore" an its got a pretty good review, tubed sounds good. Anybody had any dealings with theses ?[/quote] Love mine to bits, use it with all my basses, the only effect I really really can depend on. [url="http://www.markbass.it/risorse/allegato_pro.php?id=152"]http://www.markbass.it/risorse/allegato_pro.php?id=152[/url]

The berst result is obtained by using toothpaste, which is something you all have at home, toothpaste containes abrasive micro granules designed to midly polish your teeth enamel without causing damage and it works wonders on lacquered wood surfaces, plastics, and even some chrome metal parts. Put some on a soft cloth, apply to the body in a circular motion without digging into the lacquer too hard, allow to dry then polish away with another clean cloth and admire the new shine in disbelief!

[quote name='The Burpster' post='826835' date='May 3 2010, 09:01 PM']Sorry but that is misleading at best, and factually wrong at worse. I agree that if you believe its not worth the effort for the sake of bridge then its not worth it, but as to creating dead spots in the neck and a loss of sustain that just isn't correct.[/quote] If you are happy believing that, then be my guest I don't intend to pursue the argument in that direction with you. Most basses, I agree come with shims but we are talking thin bits of plastic in fact thinner than a thin fender pick. To shim say a Jazz bass in order to make up for the increased height of an original Badass bridge you are going to need a shim as thick as a tupperware lid, or similar, that will significantly detach the neck from the body and in anyone's book that is a no no., so please believe what you wish. I have many friends in the luthier trade and their professional verdict on the subject is that, the best fit for one of those Badass jobbies is by carving out a 3mm square slot on the body. [quote name='The Burpster' post='826835' date='May 3 2010, 09:01 PM']As to BA bridges being ill fitting, well I'm sure the 1000s of happy quiet owners would disagree with your comments. They were and are designed as a direct drop on replacement for the BBOT bridges, I'm sure the design team would be very pleased to hear your comments about their 'ill fitting' product which incidentally Fender believe are so bad that they fitted them to several of their production models.[/quote] When Fender started to supply Badass bridges, they must have redesigned the instrument taking into consideration the steeper step these represent, probably building the neck slightly higher or use the second series of Badass II or III which are different, please don't get me wrong, we are talking about the original Badass bridge, [b]not[/b] the Badass II or III, which have a a shallower base, and the saddles are lower. The original Badass cannot be fitted to a Fender Jazz or Pre without carving it down. [quote name='The Burpster' post='826835' date='May 3 2010, 09:01 PM']1 of my PRSs has a shim in the neck pocket. It makes no difference to the tone at all if done properly, in fact that bass has the best sustain of all 5 of mine.[/quote] As for PRS you are talking to a seasoned PRS owner, I own 2 of the original 1985-6 respectively, the first series ones, which are what I define the real PRS basses. One is a 5 strings fixed neck, the other is a bolt-on and there's never been a shim on that, the bolt-on was a special order which Paul Reed Smith agreed to do for me with an ash body instead of the alder they were using and in a seafoam green colour which was out of their catalogue at the time, he signed the bass on the control plate and on the back of the headstock, I also had that bass modified with an alembic preamp and a different pickup selection on the 5 positions rotary switch. so that I can get all 3 pickups individually selected with a modified pos. 4 giving neck and middle and pos. 5 is all 3 together as opposed to the original wiring. The toggle switch does not make the bass passive but on 3 of the 5 positions flicks between series & parallel.

[quote name='The Burpster' post='826727' date='May 3 2010, 06:57 PM']Well FWIW I'll chuck Hipshot into the frame..... they make several replacements that drop straight onto Fenders.... All IMHO are better engineering than the BBOT that is std fitment. BA Gotoh Hipshot Schaller. All great bits of kit. What is all this 'it makes the action too high".....? Have you peeps not heard of neck shims? [/quote] Why would you want to compromise and shimming a prized instrument for the sake of an ill fitting bridge? Nein Danke! You'll end up shifting the geometry of the instrument and with that, moving the neck away from the ideal sitting position in the body slot your negative results are loss of sustain and increase of dead spots on the neck...

I have tried 4 of the Mark Bass combos as follows: The Jeff Berlin 1 x 15" CMD151P The 1 x 12" CMD121H The 2 x 10" CMD102P The 3 x 10" CMD103H All of these feature the same head which was the Little Mark Combo head a rebadged Little Mark II head, for some reason that head is renamed Combo Head when fitted to a combo but it is exactly the same as the Mark II, they have all been upgraded now with the Little Mark III head which only difference is the addition of a Line Out volume pot for the DI link. As many people said it all boils down to taste and personal preference. But let me first say one thing here for all those who don't like the piezo tweeter, it is foolish to disconnect it because it operates through a crossover circuit and essentially it doesn't come into play unless you tweak your eq to the higher frequencies, if you keep your high EQ reasonably flat and you use the VLE (Vintage Loudspeaker Emulator) without activating the other filter the VPF (Variable Pre-Shape Filter) which enhances both low and highs in a V-shape then you can be certain that you will never have your sound going through the piezo tweeter. Now that we have crushed that silly preconception we can elaborate the difference between the 4 Combos. The Jeff Berlin 1 x 15" is the one which bellows potent lows but obviously lacks the clear top end definition, good for vintage fans but not so for slappers and those who like to use distortion. The 1 x 12" is a cross between the the Jeff Berlin and the 2 x 10", but somehow it's not as loud as the 2 x 10" and also it has a sound which to me at least was less appealing, somehow it reminded me of a cheap TNT Peavey, 1 x 12 as far I have experienced in my years of playing is not the best cab solution for a bass, not here nor there if you know what I mean. The 2 x 10 CMD102P seems to tick all the right boxes, it has clarity, and the magic of it is the natural compression that emanates from the 2 x 10" speakers format with the onboard circuit is the best match of them all. Every note played is an aural sculpture, you get the feeling that you can see the big dollops of sound as well as hear them, it's that good, to me at least. [url="http://www.markbass.it/risorse/allegato_pro.php?id=103"]http://www.markbass.it/risorse/allegato_pro.php?id=103[/url] The CMD103H - 3 x 10" jobbie well that is just silly and overkill in my views, yes it plays just as good as the 2 x 10" but while that extra speaker adds volume it takes away that magic definition that the 2 x 10" gives. Eventually after a lot of careful consideration I bought the 102P which I happily run for a year and then 2 months ago I have upgraded the head to the Litttle Mark Tube 500 which has made this combo the best thing in the world in my book, the Mark Bass UK distributors (Proel UK) did the swap for me and they told me this is the only one in the world with that head in that combo!

go for a Fender High Mass Vintage bridge, cheaper than the Badass and you won't need to dig in the body to fit the Badass too which is way too high for a standard jazz bass and needs to be sunk in deeper and can't be fit flat on the body surface. [url="http://www.bassguitarpartsdirect.co.uk/shopdisplayproducts.asp?id=78&cat=Fender+Bass+Bridges"]http://www.bassguitarpartsdirect.co.uk/sho...er+Bass+Bridges[/url]

[quote name='JTUK' post='825103' date='May 1 2010, 08:05 PM']yep..totally agree...but the shape will not stand the test of time..IMO.[/quote] What? Like it's gonna fall apart or self combust in a few years time?

[quote name='Crazykiwi' post='825209' date='May 1 2010, 10:37 PM']It works on the basis of rotating the frets around. Good point about the fret wear but if the frets are made from stainless steel then they are unlikely to wear quickly. The biggest issue for me would be consistency in the action of the strings between both modes. If you set the action for fretted mode then it will be the height of the frets too high when in fretless mode.[/quote] Of course having both options on one bass will result in a compromise one way or another but I still think it's a cool idea. I once asked Paul Reed Smith to make one, this was 16 years ago, and he told me where to get off...

[quote name='beerdragon' post='825024' date='May 1 2010, 06:22 PM'] apparently. [url="http://mikeyguitar.com/bass.asp"]http://mikeyguitar.com/bass.asp[/url][/quote] Not the world's first, I found this video many years ago

[quote name='Duarte' post='591814' date='Sep 6 2009, 11:58 PM']Personally, I love this bass. Played one in the States and it was insane. [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTv0dHtHHbI&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eernieball%2Ecom%2Fforums%2Fmusic%2Dman%2Dbasses%2F39732%2Dbig%2Dal%2Dvideo%2Donline%2Ehtml&feature=player_embedded"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QTv0dHtHHbI...player_embedded[/url] Zak[/quote] And don't forget Ed's review on the 25th Anniversary, which is A-W-E-S-O-M-E!!!

[quote name='Duarte' post='824515' date='May 1 2010, 12:39 AM']I want a 4H. DESPERATELY![/quote] I almost forgotten I've ordered that bass, having kept myself busy with the 3 Squiers and the Fender '51 I bought in between ordering that, to present date. Strings & Things said the date might be earlier than what the store estimated, they told me it will arrive in md july but "Pete" said: "Hi Fran, Your bass is due for completion around mid June. Cheers, Pete"

[quote name='KiOgon' post='824330' date='Apr 30 2010, 07:35 PM']Great minds - - - it must be comfortable 'cos I fitted my '51P bass first, then did the same process of 'where's it best' on my Frank Bello & ended up in almost exactly the same place. One word -(several actually)- of advice when drilling the holes, mark the spots on a piece of masking tape on the pickguard & drill a small (1.5mm) pilot hole through just into the wood. Remove the pickguard & open up the hole in the pickguard to a screw clearance size, (probably 3mm). Enlarge the body drilling to a suitable size for the screws to get a grip, (probably 2mm) then open up the start of that hole, like a countersink, with a 3.5 or 4mm just twisted in your fingers, just to take the finish away from the edge of the hole, it stops cracks in the laquer forming when you fit the screws. Before re-fitting the pickguard make sure the holes in that are de-burred so it doesn't scratch anywhere. HTH, John[/quote] Thanks for the valuble tips John, I have followed them to the letter and actually I am quite content with myself for having done a very tidy job, all the holes we countersank causing no lacquer cracks at all. With 3 different size drill bits, 1.5mm / 2mm / 3mm I went from the smallest to the largest and finally when I put it all back together it ended up being both functional and appealing to the eyes.

Well I personally love the look of that bass so much that is on my screen background and it won't move until something better looking comes along which I doubt it will for a long time

[quote name='4 Strings' post='824167' date='Apr 30 2010, 03:52 PM']Glad to see someone who doesn't mind drilling a couple of holes into their guitar to make it better for them. I winder we can get too precious about them, thinking more about the next owner than actually using them ourselves.[/quote] Well admittedly at the moment I haven't screwed it in yet as I have been trying to find the ideal spot so it's still holding with double sided tape, but yeah I am not fussed, soon as I get home I'll get the old drill out a 2ml drill bit and hey presto.

Do it, don't miss the chance I've got both that one and the CIJ 51 reissue and they are both lovely to play and hear. The Squier is by no means inferior in quality and construction compared to the Fender once a new pickup and pots were fitted I ended up with tho similar quality instruments.

[quote name='KiOgon' post='823593' date='Apr 30 2010, 12:14 AM']I fitted mine where it feels right for me & my playing style - it's also from Guy Lewis, Maple single hole, aged my way [attachment=48629:__51_P_bass_008.jpg][/quote] You won't believe this, geezer, but I have used some double sided tape and spent the last hour trying lots of different positions [b][font="Century Gothic"][size=1][i](oohh matron!! )[/i][/size][/font][/b] and when I have found the one that is most comfortable for me, I came back here to show the pictures and noticed your post showing that the position you have fitted yours is exactly the same I have found to be the most comfortable!! What a coincidence It doesn't get in the way of slapping and it allows you to pluck the E string without knocking your fingers against the thumb rest. look!!